Chengdu Goldenport Circuit () also known as Chengdu International Circuit in English, was a permanent circuit in Shi Sheng Road, Jin Jiang, 610023

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It held a round of

Asian Touring Car Series The Asian Touring Car Series (ATCS) is a touring car racing series that takes place each year across several Asian nations. It includes events at circuits in Malaysia, China and Indonesia. It ran as the Asian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) betwee ...

(ATCS),

Formula V6 Asia Formula Asia V6 Renault, renamed Formula V6 Asia in 2007 by Motorsport Asia, was launched in 2006 Formula V6 Asia by Renault season, 2006 and regulated by Motorsport Asia. It was a Formula Renault, Formula Renault 3.5 that include also World Serie ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. On August 26 2008, the circuit was confirmed to be hosting a round of the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season. It was the fourth different circuit in China to have hosted an

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix Operations Ltd. operated as A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themse ...

race. The track hosted the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the Grand Prix season on 9 November 2008, the Sprint race was won by Adam Carroll of Team Ireland and the Feature race was won by

Filipe Albuquerque Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque (born 13 June 1985) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving an Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the Europea ...

of Team Portugal. The fastest lap at the circuit was set by

Robert Doornbos Robert Michael Doornbos (; born 23 September 1981) is a Dutch former racing driver who also competed with a Monégasque licence. He has been test and third driver for the Jordan and Red Bull Racing Formula One teams, as well as driving for Mina ...

of Team The Netherlands, who managed a lap of 1:15.212. In August 2019, the venue was announced to be demolished. According to renowned F1 journalist

Joe Saward Jonathan Mark Christopher Saward (born 14 July 1961) is a British Formula One journalist. Life and career Saward was educated at Haileybury College and attained a degree in history at Bedford College, University of London. In 1984 he joined ''A ...

, plans are for a redevelopment of the circuit to be FIA Grade 1 in order to start work towards a second Formula One race in China. Notebook Joe Saward's Notebook

The circuit

The circuit was long.

's track commentator Bruce Jones compared the bumpy circuit to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Circuito Permanente del Jarama The Circuito de Madrid Jarama - RACE, formerly known as ''Circuito del Jarama'' and ''Circuito Permanente del Jarama'' is a motorsport racetrack located in San Sebastián de los Reyes, north of Madrid. It was home to the Spanish Grand Prix ni ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Autódromo do Estoril The Circuito do Estoril or Autódromo do Estoril (Estoril Circuit), officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, is a motorsport race track on the Portuguese Riviera, outside of Lisbon, owned by state-run holding management company ...

. He suggested the main straight is longer than the one at

Circuit Park Zandvoort Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea coas ...

, before plunging under a bridge. Another A1GP track commentator John Watson believed that the bumps are the consequence of the track's location in an earthquake zone.

A1 Team Australia A1 Team Australia was the Australian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The team chairman is former Formula One world champion Alan Jones (racing driver), Alan Jones, backed by general manager and former NASCAR ...

's driver John Martin said driving on the track was like "old Mario Kart on

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

" because the bumps on the circuit made his car jump. There were puddles on the circuit which never dried up during the weekend and they caused spins. He also said that the surface is not ideal because the water was rising to the surface, as the track was built on part of a swamp.

Lap records

The fastest official race lap records at the Chengdu Goldenport Circuit are listed as:

References

A1 Grand Prix circuits Sport in Chengdu Motorsport venues in Sichuan Sports venues in Chengdu {{Autoracing-venue-stub